There are numerous types of portable image collection devices. One type of image collection device is a portable data collection device, which is widely used in manufacturing, service and package delivery industries to perform a variety of on-site data collection activities. Such portable data collection devices often include integrated bar code dataform readers adapted to read bar code dataforms affixed to products, product packaging and/or containers in warehouses, retail stores, shipping terminals, for inventory control, tracking, production control and expediting, quality assurance and other purposes.
Bar code dataforms come in a variety of different formats including one and two dimensional bar codes, matrix codes and graphic codes, as well as words and numbers and other symbols, which may be printed or etched on paper, plastic cards and metallic and other items. For example, a one dimensional bar code dataform typically consists of a series of parallel light and dark rectangular areas of varying widths. The light areas are often referred to as Aspaces@ and the dark areas as Abars.@ Different widths of bars and spaces define different characters in a particular bar code dataform.
Data originally encoded in a dataform is recovered for further use in a variety of ways. For example, a printed bar code may be illuminated to derive reflectance values which are digitized, stored in buffer memory and subsequently decoded to recover the data encoded in the bar code. The printed bar code may be illuminated using a laser, an array of LEDs, ambient light, or the like. The light reflected from the printed bar code typically is collected or captured using a photosensor such as, for example, a CCD detector or CMOS detector. A visual (e.g., a tri-color light emitting diode) and/or audible indicator (e.g., a beep from a speaker ) is provided to inform a user whether or not a proper reading has been obtained.
Recently, new hybrid type codes have been developed which include a one-dimensional code bottom portion and a two-dimensional code top portion. However, there is no indicator mechanism to inform a user when either one or both portions of the new hybrid type code has been successfully decoded by a dataform reading device. Therefore, there is an unmet need in the art to provide a system and method for informing a user reading a hybrid barcode when either or both portions of a hybrid dataform has been successfully read.